Crime and Punishment Portillo's State Secrets

One thousand years of history under one roof,

the National Archives, a treasure house of secrets.

The records of extraordinary times and people,

these files are this nation's story,

our shared past.

Documents housed here were highly classified,

intended for the eyes of only the privileged few,

protected from your sight for decades,

but not now.

I've been granted special access

to files once kept hush-hush.

I'll unearth amazing tales from our hidden history.

Forget what you've been told,

these documents tell the truth.

Coming up in this programme,

crime and punishment -

infamous murderers

and the hangman who put hundreds of them to death.

For a good clean execution,

you must have his height and his weight.

Otherwise, if you get a man who's, say, 16 stone

and you give him an 8 foot drop you'll pull his head off.

BELL CHIMES

The art of detection and the science of fingerprinting.

How Scotland Yard pioneered forensics.

I am your suspect.

What do I need to do to clear my name?

You know what they say, big hands...

-I don't know what they say.

-..big fingerprints!

Consulting detective...

And a new mystery for Sherlock.

Why did so many believe that

Conan Doyle's fictitious sleuth was real?

I get letters addressed to him

and I get letters asking for his autograph.

I get letters addressed to his rather stupid friend, Watson.

The ultimate punishment for crime is death.

These once secret files contain details

of thousands of those crimes,

how they were planned and perpetrated.

But the punishment was no secret.

In centuries gone by,

it was out in the open for all to see

and even enjoy.

Imagine that I am a condemned man

on my way to my public execution.

There's a good chance that my journey would begin here,

at the site of the old Newgate Prison,

now the Old Bailey.

Driver, take me to my fate.

CROWD CHEERS

Here in London,

when the use of capital punishment was at its height,

the condemned were transported to the gallows

on a horse-drawn cart

to the delight of the watching crowds.

Throngs of people cheering, jeering, hurling rotten food.

And no wonder they were happy,

for an execution day was often declared a public holiday.

The taverns along the route would be packed for the procession.

In the slang of the time, I was going west,

I was due to do the Tyburn jig.

In other words, I was going to be hanged.

Public executions may have generated a carnival atmosphere,

but they had a darker purpose -

to instil fear in the crowd

and to deter them from committing crime.

I'm heading for Tyburn, can I give you a lift?

Oh, I think so, thank you.

And in the 17th and 18th centuries,

those crimes could be petty by our standards,

but still attract the ultimate punishment.

At the end of the Tudor period,

there were 50 capital crimes.

By the end of the Regency period there were over 200.

So you could be executed for shoplifting, house breaking, theft.

You could even be executed for walking disguised,

that was enough to hang you.

At one stage, it was even a capital offence

to be seen in the company of gypsies.

And the courts decreed that the resulting sentence

be carried out in full public glare.

That was one of the strongest points of the punishment,

the state wanted you to be humiliated.

You spent 20, 30 minutes thrashing at the end of the rope

with your legs kicking,

and the crowd saw this,

and they might just think, "That could be me."

At Tyburn, next to what's now Marble Arch,

the hangman let the prisoners say their last farewells

before leading them to the Triple Tree.

This triangular apparatus could hang up to 24 convicts at a time.

Do we know exactly where the gallows was?

We don't know with absolute certainty,

but this is the most likely spot.

It is extraordinary, isn't it?

This tiny monument actually represents

-tens of thousands of people...

-Yes.

-..who perished here.

Most of whom died a terrible, excruciating death

with crowds of people watching

or saying perhaps the silent prayer.

So how did hanging go from being a spectator event

to the taboo that it is now?

For that, I need to reach into more recent archives from 1955.

-TV ANNOUNCER:

-Millions are asking, "Is it civilised to kill by law?

"Does it really act as a deterrent?"

This was the law of the centuries gone by,

should it remain the law of the 20th?

I've unearthed one document revealing details of an execution

that helped to change Britain's attitude

to capital punishment.

It's the case of the last woman to be hanged in this country,

Ruth Ellis.

These files from 1955 are the gory bureaucratic detail

that accompanies a judicial execution.

Name of prisoner, Ruth Ellis.

Prisoner number... Aged 28 years.

The Ellis case became controversial,

not least because of her circumstances.

Abused as a child, she'd led a chaotic life

and been involved in a series of disastrous relationships.

She shot her wealthy racing driver boyfriend, David Blakely,

after he'd been unfaithful and violent towards her,

allegedly punching her so hard in the stomach

that she lost her unborn baby.

-TV ANNOUNCER:

-On June 21st,

Ruth Ellis was found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey

and sentenced to death in accordance with the law.

In the days leading up to her execution,

there was a public campaign for clemency.

Petitions attracted 50,000 signatures,

and these files describe the last minute efforts

made behind the scenes.

The prison governess picks up the story of a call

that she took on the morning of the execution.

"I received a telephone call from a Miss or Mrs Holmes

"who stated that she was private secretary

"to Major Lloyd George,

"who was the Home Secretary.

"She said that a stay of execution was on its way

"in the case of Ruth Ellis.

"This caused some delay,

"and in view of the unsatisfactory source of the message,

"and after consultation,

"it was decided to carry on with the execution.

"This was done,

"and the execution took place at 9.01am

"instead of 9am as arranged."

BELL CHIMES

The man who carried out the hanging

was Britain's most famous executioner, Albert Pierrepoint.

During his long career, he killed more than 400 people,

his record being 17 in a single day.

You see, every person has to have a...

In this 1983 interview,

he explained the methods that he employed

for a successful kill.

For a good clean execution,

you must have his age, his height and his weight.

Otherwise, if you get a man, say, 16 stone,

which it does happen,

and you give him an 8 foot drop, you'll pull his head off.

The files reveal, in macabre detail,

his careful preparations for the Ellis execution.

"Height, 5 foot 2.

"Build, spare, weighing 103 pounds.

"Character of the prisoner's neck, thin."

Now, Pierrepoint would have used that data

in order to make a calculation about what length of rope was necessary

to kill Ruth Ellis.

"A length of the drop as determined before the execution,

"8 foot 4 inches.

"Length of the drop as measured after the execution,

"8 foot 6 inches."

So the calculations had been perfectly made.

And they had to be,

because each hanging was subject to an official review,

like this one.

"Has Pierrepoint performed his duty satisfactorily?

"Yes.

"Was his general demeanour satisfactory

"during the period that he was in the prison?

"Yes.

"Cause of death, fracture dislocation

"between second and third cervical vertebrae

"and clean break of the spinal cord at that level."

Ruth Ellis would have died a quick death.

Mr Albert Pierrepoint could have gone home that day satisfied

he'd done exactly what was required of him

and his performance review was good.

The execution of Ruth Ellis caused widespread disquiet

and strengthened the campaign to abolish capital punishment.

That didn't happen for another decade,

but during that time, no other woman suffered her fate.

There was quite a high degree of public sympathy for her

and I think part of that was people could empathise with her,

they could identify with this, er, love story gone wrong.

And she was actually found at the scene of the crime

-with a gun in her hand, I think...

-Yes, yeah.

So was there considerable public shock

when the sentence was carried out?

Er, yes, there was shock

and then when people gathered outside the prison,

some people reportedly sort of dropped to their knees

at around the time that, erm, she would have been hanged.

Do you think, in terms of the history of the death penalty,

the Ruth Ellis case is very significant?

I think it would be too straightforward to say

because of Ruth Ellis

it became more likely that the death penalty would be abolished,

but in a sort of wider context,

Ruth Ellis' case can be seen as one of those really important ones.

What of Albert Pierrepoint?

Less than a year after he executed Ellis,

the most prolific hangman in British history finally retired.

He wrote an autobiography in which, amazingly,

he spoke out against the efficacy of capital punishment.

"It is said to be a deterrent,

"I cannot agree.

"All the men and women whom I have faced at that final moment

"convince me that in what I have done

"I've not prevented a single murder."

If Ellis had committed her crime in 1965, not 1955,

she'd probably have lived.

By then, Parliament had begun moves to abolish the ultimate sentence,

but for her, that change came a decade too late.

Shortly before she was hanged,

Ruth Ellis wrote to the parents of David,

the boyfriend that she had murdered.

She said, "We were very much in love with one another.

"Unfortunately, one woman in his life wasn't enough for David.

"I have forgiven him.

"I wish I could have found it in my heart

"to have forgiven him while he was alive.

"I shall die loving David.

"You should feel content that his death has been repaid.

"Goodbye, Ruth Ellis."

The name Scotland Yard has long been associated

with cutting-edge investigative techniques

and many brilliant detectives have passed through its doors.

But could any of them measure up

to Britain's most celebrated crime fighter?

This hat is widely worn in Scotland,

yet you're already thinking Sherlock Holmes,

an elementary demonstration of the power over our imagination

exercised by the fictitious detective

a century after he was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

But had you ever fallen into the trap

of thinking that the great sleuth was real?

Well, Watson, what do you make of it?

Me, Holmes?

You know my methods.

Apply them.

Scotland Yard has thick files of people who wrote in

asking the whereabouts of Sherlock Holmes.

This one comes from Odessa in present day Ukraine.

Erm, "Will you do me the favour of informing me

"where the great detective Sherlock Holmes is

"and what is his position?

"I want this information badly

"as I've had a bet with the great inspector named Von Lange

"who says Sherlock Holmes never existed."

And it's signed Nicolai Ivanovich Novaselski

who turns out to be the Secretary of the Odessa Suburban Police.

I suspect that the Yard's top brass

considered letters like this to be a bit of a nuisance.

Still, they were courteous enough to reply to each one.

"Sir, with reference to your letter of the 16th ultimo,

"I am directed by the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis

"to acquaint you that Sherlock Holmes is not a real person

"but a character in fiction.

"I am, sir, your obedient servant."

And it's signed by the Chief Clerk.

Given that Sherlock Holmes often showed up the Metropolitan Police

to be Plodders,

I feel there's a certain tight-lipped sourness

about this reply.

Holmes was, of course, entirely the product

of Arthur Conan Doyle's imagination.

The stories published in instalments from 1887

became instant classics

and the central character, an instant hero.

Well, he caught on almost immediately.

Within a year of his first appearance,

er, letters started coming in

to the editor of the Strand Magazine

asking if in fact Sherlock Holmes really existed.

And the editor had a standard reply where he said,

"I cannot confirm whether it be aye or nay,

"but let us hope so."

Why do you think people might have thought

that this detective was real?

Partly to do with the brilliance of Conan Doyle's writing, of course,

and also, the illustrations which accompanied the stories

gave a focus for their imagination.

And Doyle also included so many factual details into the stories,

you know, real locations

and also real people he mentions in passing.

And so, you're getting Doyle putting a real person with Holmes

and so they...the reality rubs off on the character.

At the height of Sherlock's popularity,

fact and fiction became blurred in many people's minds

and the confusion continued for years

as his creator, Conan Doyle, recalled.

Well, the curious thing is how many people around the world

who are perfectly convinced that he is a living human being.

I get letters addressed to him

and I get letters asking for his autograph.

I get letters addressed to his rather stupid friend, Watson.

I've even had ladies writing to say that

they'd be very glad to act as his housekeeper.

Despite Holmes' popularity,

Conan Doyle began to tire of him

so he decided on extreme literary action.

He upset his mother by saying,

"In the last story I shall be killing Holmes."

And when he died, such was the effect on the populous at the time

that men in the City wore black arm bands

in respect for the death of this great detective character.

Another sign that he was treated as though he was a real person.

Someone wrote to Conan Doyle, a lady wrote to Conan Doyle

after the death of Holmes in the Final Problem

and said, "Mr Doyle, you brute!"

Nine million quid, for what?

The pressure from fans persuaded the author

to bring his character back to life

and more than a century on, he's still with us.

But it's all computer generated, electronic codes,

electronic ciphering methods...

Today, the Victorian sleuth has been reinvented

as a 21st-century action hero.

Whatever was stolen, he wants it back...

This detective is 125 years old,

even his creator tried to kill him off

and yet, even today, people love him and even find him realistic, why?

Well, he's a magical character,

enigmatic, a superhero.

-Sherlock?

-Where is it? Quickly, where?

It's here, it's in 221 Baker Street...

And, of course, there is the wonderful friendship

between Holmes and Watson which appeals too many.

But there's something about him that appeals to the heart,

and you can't fully explain that.

Those who feel it know it.

The cipher, the book,

it's the London A to Z that they use...

TENSE MUSIC PLAYS

Today, when the police arrive at a crime scene,

their first task is to seal the area,

so that forensic officers can do their work.

But the validity of forensic evidence wasn't always accepted

by the British Criminal Justice system.

A breakthrough came at the start of the 20th century

with a trial that transformed the investigation of crime.

Nowadays, we take it for granted

that on everything that we touch with our fingers,

we will leave our prints,

and that because those marks are unique,

we can be identified from them.

But at one time,

that science had to be pioneered, tested and proven

to public satisfaction.

That happened in a Court of Law.

I'm looking at court papers

on the double murder of a Mr and Mrs Farrow in 1905.

Two men attempted to rob their South London shop late at night.

When the couple resisted, they were brutally killed

and their money stolen from a cashbox.

The prime suspects were Alfred and Albert Stratton,

but witnesses couldn't identify the brothers,

as they'd been wearing these very masks.

So the prosecution turned to

the revolutionary science of fingerprints

in an effort to convict them.

The jury, sceptical of newfangled ideas,

would need convincing.

The files that I have here record that very moment in history

when public suspicions were overcome,

the occasion on which an expert witness, Charles Collins,

was able to convince a jury

to convict the Stratton brothers of the crime of murder

based on a fingerprint.

Charles Collins says,

"There was a mark of a digit

"on the side of the inner case of the cashbox.

"I have since photographically enlarged the mark

"and produced the result marked X.

"On the 3rd of April, I went to Greenwich Police Station

"and there took an imprint of

"the right thumb of the prisoner, Alfred Stratton,

"which I produced marked Y.

"On exhibits X and Z,

"I have marked with red ink 11 points of identity

"and I have numbered them respectively one to 11.

"I am of the opinion on the doctoring of chances

"that the odds are a hundred thousand million to one

"against the imprint on the cashbox shown being any other

"than that of the right thumb of Alfred Stratton, the accused."

The power of the numbers was overwhelming,

and it took the jury just two hours to convict.

The brothers were to be hanged.

110 years have passed since the Stratton case,

but basic fingerprinting science remains the same.

Today, former fingerprint expert for the Met Janice Runacres

is going to take my dabs.

There's a first time for everything.

-Right, I am your suspect.

-OK.

What do I need to do to clear my name?

Make a fist with your right hand

-and then roll carefully across.

-Roll it.

Try not to press hard at all, otherwise they will be blurry.

Really gently and lift up.

-Perfect.

-Oh, how's that?

-That's perfect.

There certainly is a knack to it

and the results are definitely worth all the care and effort.

-Do you mind if I have a look...

-Certainly.

-..for myself?

It's extraordinary how much you see, isn't it?

Yes and it's all the individual characteristics

that we are looking at.

So when a ridge changes direction or stops abruptly,

we call that a ridge ending.

If it faults into two, we call it a bifurcation,

and it's those individual characteristics

that form our identification process.

Are our fingerprints always the same throughout our life?

Yes, they are.

They're formed whilst the, er, foetus is in the womb.

Then, by 6 months, all the characteristics are fully formed

on the pads of the fingers and on the soles of the feet.

Back in 1905,

it must have been extremely hard for the Stratton brothers

to understand how carelessly leaving a thumb print

would lead them to the gallows.

-Is that one nice and clear?

-That's lovely and clear, yeah.

Lots of clarity here, lots of definition.

Yeah, that would be good.

And we're going again, are we?

Well, we're just going to put your four fingers flat down.

Straight down and then lift up.

And then, you've got to get them into this silly little box.

-So you've got...

-Right.

-..big hands here.

You know what they say, big hands...

-I don't know what they say.

-..big fingerprints!

The use of fingerprint evidence to solve the Stratton case

is rightly celebrated inside Scotland Yard's Museum.

But it was the use of forensics in another trial,

just five years later,

that cemented the Yard's reputation

for pioneering detection techniques.

It was the notorious case of Dr Hawley Crippen.

Here, in about half a dozen images,

is told the story of a murder that gripped Britain in 1910.

TENSE MUSIC PLAYS

The disappearance of Crippen's American wife, Cora,

seemed, initially, a mundane affair,

until some months later,

when the police made a gruesome discovery

at the home that she'd shared with her husband.

Officers began to investigate,

and they discovered a shovel

which Crippen used to use.

And, apparently, he had dug a grave in his cellar...

..for bits and pieces of his wife.

Dr Crippen insisted that Cora had left him months earlier.

If the police wanted to put him on trial,

they had to prove that the headless body parts were hers,

so they turned to the new science of forensics.

What could the police do with the evidence of parts of a body in 1910?

Bearing in mind that there was partial putrefaction

they were in a pretty terrible state,

they had to call in the experts,

people from St Mary's Hospital, Paddington,

which by this time had built up quite a reputation,

pioneering fields of medicine, toxicology, bacteriology

and, indeed, pathology.

If it was Mrs Crippen,

she would have had a scar as a result of an operation

she had in America in the 1890s.

That was very, very important.

Tests did discover a scar on the remains,

providing the police with crucial evidence

that the body was indeed that of Cora.

And not only that,

the forensic team discovered that before being mutilated,

she'd been poisoned with the deadly narcotic hyoscine.

Now, this is very, very significant

because Crippen had bought five grains of hyoscine,

which I may add is between five and 10 times a fatal dose,

at a chemist's in London

about a fortnight before Mrs Crippen disappeared.

Now, how new, then, was it, at that time,

for Scotland Yard to be able to make deductions about the toxicology?

-Was this novel?

-This was, this was very new.

This is really pioneering stuff. Very, very important.

It's a landmark case, in that respect.

As the net tightened,

Crippen fled with his mistress aboard a ship bound for Canada.

But when its captain recognised them,

he used the innovatory ship to shore telegram

to alert Scotland Yard.

And as their ship arrived,

officers were waiting to arrest the couple.

Crippen's trial was a global sensation,

and thanks to the forensic evidence,

the jury found him guilty of murdering his wife

after just 27 minutes deliberation.

Dr Crippen was hanged in Pentonville Jail

and the use in this case

of toxicology, forensics and the telegraph

strengthened the view around the world

that the Yard always got its man.

And yet, as with all good detective stories,

there's a twist.

Remember how the police were so confident

that the remains found in Crippen's cellar

were those of his missing wife?

Well, it turns out that that confidence

may have been misplaced.

In 2010, exactly 100 years after Cora's death,

American researchers carried out new tests,

this time using much more modern DNA techniques.

Their controversial conclusion,

the remains were not Mrs Crippen's

and they may even have been those of a man.